A. Asher & Co. B.V.

Le novelle e le favole indiane di Bidpai e di Lokman. Tradotte da Ali Tchelebi-Ben-Saleh, autore turco. Opera postuma del S. Galland e trasportate dal francese idioma nell’italiano. Parte prima [-seconda]. Venice, Sebastiano Coleti, 1730. 2 parts in 1 volume. 12mo. With a small woodcut vignette on the title page and some woodcut decorated initials. 19th-century half red cloth.

[BIDPAI]. · 1724

€8,500.00 ($9,368.55 | £7,091.26 | ¥1,496,036)

266, [2]; 224 pp.Posthumous Italian edition of Galland’s French translation of the Humayun-Nameh, the Turkish version of the Kalila wa-Dimnah or 'Anwar-e Soheyli. The ancient Sanskrit “Panchatantra” fables, classics of their genre, are thought to have been assembled ca. 200 BC...

Novelle arabe divise in mille ed una notte tradotte dall’idioma francese nel volgare italiano. Tomo primo [-sesto]. Venice, Giuseppe Orlandelli, per la dita del fu Francesco di Nicolò Pezzana, 1791. 6 volumes. 12mo. With a small vignette built up from typographical ornaments on the title page of each volume and with some headpieces built up from typographical ornaments. Contemporary half calf.

[ALF LAYLA WA-LAYLA - ITALIAN]. · 1784

€4,500.00 ($4,959.82 | £3,754.20 | ¥792,019)

336; 333, [1]; 381, [1]; 360; 392; 374 pp.Second Pezzana edition, following that of 1784. That Niccolò Pezzana’s company, which in the meantime had been succeeded by Giuseppe Orlandelli, returned to print the Arabian Nights testifies to the great favour the stories had found a...

Novelle arabe divise in mille ed una notte, tradotte dall’idioma francese nel volgare italiano. Vol. primo [-sesto]. Venice, Francesco di Nicolò Pezzana, 1784. 6 volumes. 12mo. With a small vignette built up from typographical ornaments on each title page and some headpieces built up from typographical ornaments. Near-contemporary gold-tooled half calf, marbled paper sides, with a red morocco title label lettered in gold on the spine.

[ALF LAYLA WA-LAYLA - ITALIAN]. · 1721

€3,500.00 ($3,857.64 | £2,919.93 | ¥616,015)

336; 332, [2], [2 blank]; 381, [2], [2 blank]; 360; 392; 367, [1] pp.First edition by Pezzana, a both prolific and diligent publisher of exotic tales. After Coleti’s first Italian edition of 1721-22 and that of Domenico Occhi between 1741 and 1743, Nicolò Pezzana was the third...

Novelle arabe divise in mille ed una notte. Tradotte in francese e dal francese nel volgare italiano. Tomo quinto [& sesto].Venice, Sebastiano Coleti, 1721. 2 volumes bound as 1. 12mo. With a small woodcut vignette on the title page, and a woodcut ornamental tailpiece. Near-contemporary vellum.

[ALF LAYLA WA-LAYLA - ITALIAN]. · 1704

€1,500.00 ($1,653.27 | £1,251.40 | ¥264,006)

[4], 175, [1]; 240 pp.Two volumes from the very rare first Italian edition of the Arabian Nights, based on Galland’s liberal but highly influential French translation. Adapted to Parisian tastes, it had been first published in 12 volumes between 1704 and 1717. The present tran...

Le mille e una notti. Novelle arabe già pubblicate dal Galland [...] Nuova traduzione eseguita sull’ultima edizione di Parigi da A. F. Falconetti. Vol. I [-XXVII]. Venice, Giuseppe Antonelli, 1831-1832. 27 parts in 9 volumes. 12mo. With 26 (of 27) engraved plates, drawn by Pietro Zandomeneghi and engraved by Giorgio Buttazzon. Contemporary half calf with the title and volume numbers in gold on the spine.

[ALF LAYLA WA-LAYLA - ITALIAN].

€4,000.00 ($4,408.73 | £3,337.06 | ¥704,017)

Vols. I-VI: 1035 pp.; vols. VII-XII: 1060 pp.; vols. XIII-XV: 560 pp.; vols. XVI-XVIII: 574 pp.; vols. XIX-XXIV: 1046 pp.; vols. XXV-XXVII: 521 pp.Rare first illustrated Italian edition of the Arabian Nights, the first new translation after Coleti’s. This is one of the finest ...

Le mille e una notte. Novelle arabe. Versione italiana nuovamente emendata e corredata di note. Vol. primo [-quarto]. Milan, Libreria Editrice Oliva, 1867. 4 volumes. 12mo. With a wood engraved frontispiece in each volume. Contemporary half calf with the title lettered in gold on the spine.

[ALF LAYLA WA-LAYLA - ITALIAN].

€850.00 ($936.85 | £709.13 | ¥149,604)

360; 352; 338; 434 pp.Scarce illustrated edition of a classic, testifying to the great popularity which the Thousand and one nights enjoyed throughout the 19th century, also in Milan. In his introductory letter to the reader, the publisher notes, “I shall not mention the fault...

Continuazione delle novelle arabe divise in mille ed una notte. Tradotte litteralmente in francese da D. Dionigi Chavis, arabo di nazione, [...] e ridotte dal Sig. Cazotte [...]. Tomo primo [-quarto]. Venice, Giuseppe Orlandelli per la dita del fu Francesco di Nicolò Pezzana, 1791. 4 volumes. 12mo. With a small vignette built up from typographical ornaments on each title page. Near contemporary wrappers with the manuscript title on the spine.

[ALF LAYLA WA-LAYLA - ITALIAN]. · 1780

€6,500.00 ($7,164.18 | £5,422.73 | ¥1,144,027)

344; 328; 394, [2 blank]; 418, [2 blank] pp.First Italian edition of the Continuation des mille et une nuits, an ambitious project to extend the Arabian Nights as translated by Antoine Galland. The Galland Manuscript, the Arabic source, ended at Night 282, and Galland had to s...

Het groot tafereel der dwaasheid ...[Amsterdam], 1720. Folio. With the title page printed in red and black, 78 mostly double-page or folding engraved plates with caricatures on the 1720 Bubble, and a double-page hand-coloured plate of the foundations of a house near Leiden loosely inserted in the back. Contemporary gold-tooled half blueish green roan, with a red morocco title label lettered in gold on the spine, blue paste paper sides.

[TAFEREEL DER DWAASHEID]. LAW, John (subject). · 1719

€4,500.00 ($4,959.82 | £3,754.20 | ¥792,019)

[1], [1 blank], 25, [1], 52, "31" [= 29], [1 blank], 8, 9, [1 blank] pp. and engraved ll.A famous collection of texts and plates satirising the Englishman John Law, his Mississippi Company, and the international land and trading speculation in worthless shares of the South Sea...

Vita Gasparis Barzaei...Antwerp, J. Trognesius, 1610. 8vo. With a woodcut vignette on the title page, some woodcut ornamental head- and tailpieces, and some woodcut decorated initials. Modern vellum.

TRIGAULT, Nicolas. · 1515

€9,500.00 ($10,470.73 | £7,925.53 | ¥1,672,040)

[1], [1 blank], [12], [2 blank], 338, [20], [2 blank] pp.Scarce first edition, in the original Latin, of Gaspar Berse's biography, a famous Dutch Jesuit known for his missionary work in Ormuz (island in the Persian Gulf) and Goa, India. Berse (1515-1553, also known by several ...

Dell unione del regno di Portogallo alla corona di Castiglia. Istoria.Genoa, Girolamo Bartoli, 1589. 4to. With 12 decorated woodcut initials, 12 woodcut headpieces, and 4 woodcut tailpieces. Slightly later Italian/Iberian limp vellum, with the manuscript title on the head edge of the leaves and at the head of the spine, a paper label ("1350") at the foot of the spine, green closing ties.

CONESTAGGIO, Girolamo. · 1585

€2,750.00 ($3,031.00 | £2,294.23 | ¥484,012)

[1], [1 blank], [22], 7, [1 blank], 412 pp.An extensive history of the Portuguese Empire before 1585, including the discovery of the Americas, the activities of the Jesuits, and the succession crisis of 1580. As the title implies, the work also discusses the unification of Por...

Descrittione ... di tutti i Paesi Bassi, altrimenti detti Germania Inferiore.Antwerp, Willem Silvius, 1567. Folio. With the title, the large coat of arms of Philip II, and his portrait set within a woodcut architectural frame with allegorical figures on separate pages, and 17 double-page plates, maps and views (15 woodcuts, 2 engravings).Further with 15 woodcut divisional title-pages for the illustrations and descriptions of the regions and cities set within a woodcut ornamental frame and numerous woodcut decorated initials (at least 4 series). Later vellum.

GUICCIARDINI, Lodovico. · 1940

€8,000.00 ($8,817.46 | £6,674.13 | ¥1,408,034)

[3], [1 blank], [16], "296"[= 339], [1 blank], [19], [1 blank] pp.First edition of the first illustrated description of the Low Countries. The present copy comes from the library of princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy (1940). This popular guide to the Netherlands was written by ...

[Gebeden en evangelien op de zondagen].[Antwerp, Johannes Carolus Craen or his son-in-law Hendrik Leys, late 18th- or early 19th century]. 16mo (ca. 13 x 9.5 cm). 351 devotional engravings (including 8 repeats), printed on wove paper, engraved by several 17th-century engravers, printed from the original copper plates at the end of the 18th- or beginning of the 19th century. Early 19th-century(?) gold-tooled red sheepskin, with a general title in Dutch lettered in gold on the spine, gold-tooled board edges, marbled endpapers, gilt edges.

[DEVOTIONAL PRINTS]. · 1630

€1,950.00 ($2,149.25 | £1,626.82 | ¥343,208)

[351] ll.Intriguing and extensive collection of 351 devotional prints, comprising ca. 16 print series and several separate engraved title pages of print series and some separate devotional prints. Each print shows a small engraving depicting a religious theme for almost every ...

Traité de la perspective pratique, avec des remarques sur l'architecture, suivies de quelques edifices considerables mis en perspective, & de l'invention de l'auteur. Ouvrage très-utile aux amateurs de l'architecture & de la peinture.Paris, Jacques Vincent, 1725. 3 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With 33 engraved plates (32 folding, 1 double-page), an engraved frontispiece, numerous decorated woodcut initials, and head- and tailpieces (both woodcut and built up from typographical ornaments). Contemporary gold and blind tooled mottled brown calf.

COURTONNE, Jean. · 1671

€2,250.00 ($2,479.91 | £1,877.10 | ¥396,009)

[2 blank], [12], "116" [=114], [2] pp.First edition of an excellent manual on practical perspective, written by a celebrated French architect. The work is divided into three parts, all treating the various aspects of perspective put into practice. An extra chapter is added at ...

Remarks on the Pearl Oyster Beds in the Persian Gulf. [In:] The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From January 1865 to December 1867. Volume XVIII.Bombay, printed at the Education Society’s Press, Byculla, 1868. 8vo (14.5 x 21.7 cm). With 5 folding maps, including 3 hand-coloured, and an illustration in the text. Contemporary half green calf and marbled paper over boards.

PELLY, Lewis · 1825

€12,500.00 ($13,777.28 | £10,428.32 | ¥2,200,053)

16, cxiii, [1 blank], 117 pp. [The article: pp. 32-35].An early and valuable study of the pearl fisheries along the Arabian Coast by the British political officer Lewis Pelly (1825-92). The article covers the locations of the most fruitful beds at Bahrain, right of access, app...

Compendium universae medicinae iuxta doctrinam Hippocratis, & Galeni.Vicenza, Pietro Bertelli, 1608. 8vo. With a woodcut printer's device on the title page, 6 decorated woodcut initials, 5 woodcut headpieces, and 2 tailpieces built up from typographical ornaments. 18th-century half vellum, marbled paper sides.

CNUTIUS (CNUZIO), Justus. · 1961

€500.00 ($551.09 | £417.13 | ¥88,002)

152, [6], [2 blank] pp.Rare first edition of a medical compendium based on the doctrines of Hippocrates and Galen, written by a Dutch professor at the university of Padua. Hippocrates (ca. 460-370 BCE) is often called the "father of medicine", due to his numerous contributions...

Die Versteinerungen des Norddeutschen Oolithen-Gebirges.Hanover, Hahn, (colophon: printed by Jänecke brothers), 1836. Large 4to (32.5 x 26 cm). With 16 lithographed plates. Original publisher's printed boards.

ROEMER, Friedrich Adolph. · 1809

€950.00 ($1,047.07 | £792.55 | ¥167,204)

[3], [1 blank], [2], 218 pp.First and only edition of a work on North-German oolite, written by the German geologist Friedrich Roemer. "It provided the first insight into the fossil riches (over 250 new species) and stratigraphic subdivisions of the northwestern German Jurassi...

[Album with twelve Chinese pith paintings of court officials].[Guangzhou (Canton), before 1850]. Folio (ca. 34.5 x 24.5 cm). Gouache and gold on pith paper (ca. 26.5 x 17.5 cm), each drawing is mounted by its corners in an album of mulberry-bark(?) paper (ca. 34 x 24 cm) and framed with a light blue silk ribbon. Contemporary green silk brocade with a floral pattern, pink closing ties.

[SUNQUA (attributed)]. · 1820

€8,500.00 ($9,368.55 | £7,091.26 | ¥1,496,036)

[12] ll.Album with twelve beautifully executed Chinese pith paintings, which show the emperor, the empress, and three court officials. The artworks have a consistent style and were clearly all made by the same artist and produced as a series. They are quite large, as the leave...

Verslag eener proeve van het vormen, bakken en gebruiken van zware tigchelsteenen, voor het maken van steenglooijingen, of tot dekking der glooijingen van dijken.Amsterdam, Pieper en Ipenbuur, 1825. 8vo. With 3 large, folding engraved plates. Contemporary red sprinkled boards.

WILDEMAN, Jan Ernst. · 1770

€850.00 ($936.85 | £709.13 | ¥149,604)

24 pp.Unusual publication about the use of tichelstenen (bricks) in stone batters to reinforce the Dutch dikes. The author, Jan Ernst Wildeman (1770-1833) started his career as an engineer in the Dutch army. After the Treaty of Amiens was signed (1802), he left the army and st...

Uittreksel uit het dagboek van W.J.C. Ridder Huyssen van Kattendyke, Kapitein-Luit. ter zee, gedurende zijn verblijf in Japan in 1857, 1858 en 1859.The Hague, W.P. van Stockum (printed by Giunta d'Albani), 1860. 8vo. With a large folding lithographed map (67 x 54.5 cm) depicting the west coast of Japan and Kiusiu. Original printed publisher's boards.

HUYSSEN VAN KATTENDYKE, Willem Johan Cornelis. · 1816

€4,000.00 ($4,408.73 | £3,337.06 | ¥704,017)

[2 blank], [10], 236 pp.First and only edition of a description of Japan by the Dutch naval commander Willem Johan Cornelis Huyssen van Kattendyke (1816-1866), recording events of his service in Nagasaki and surroundings in 1857, 1858, and 1859. It is a revised excerpt from hi...

Geneeskonst der heelmeesters, tot dienst der zeevaart.Amsterdam, Adriaan Wor, 1752. 8vo. With a woodcut vignette on the title page, and two decorated woodcut initials. Contemporary marbled wrappers, with a 19th-century paper label on the spine with the author and title in manuscript.

TITSINGH, Abraham (editor). · 1740

€3,750.00 ($4,133.18 | £3,128.50 | ¥660,016)

8, 662 pp.First and only edition of a very scarce work on naval medicine. This practical handbook was written by doctors who served on Dutch war ships that sailed from the Netherlands to Curaçao. It includes numerous case studies of sick sailors on these ships during the 1740s...